Surface Buyers Beware!

[ni28]

Instead of posting this in the numerous surface RT, surface pro, surface 2, surface pro 2 threads, I seek to post this in one thread. Hopefully I won't get hammered because of this decision. Buyer warning, I am disappointed at Microsoft for their recent poor handling of service for home users. I submitted my Surface Pro for servicing over a month ago. Not only did I not receive anything until yesterday, but I was sent a cracked screen Surface RT instead of my Surface Pro (or a replacement if it was warranted). Called up technical support, was placed on hold over 6 times while they 'sorted things out' and questioned me as if I were pulling a bait and switch. Turns out this is someone else's RT sent for servicing. My Surface Pro was sent in for poor build quality re: Surface Pro - Yellow burn mark on screen - xda-developers

I was told it would be another 3-5 business days until the matter was looked at. So add to over a month of waiting, I'm looking at two to three weeks more minimum. I'll note that this isn't always the case and I'm probably your worse case scenario, you can find a positive experience here: A bricked Surface leads to an Aussie Microsoft warranty experience. | WPDownUnder

tl;dr: Surface Pro servicing took over 1 month to send me a replacement/fixed device only to send me someone else?s cracked Surface RT. This entirely separate issue won't be looked at for another week on top of that. Buyer beware, don't expect any sort of service from Microsoft, if they even return your device to begin with.

 

[surfacedude]

when situations like this come up, i think there's only one way to handle them. microsoft should have offered to overnight you a brand new surface pro and throw in every surface accessory they currently sell all for free. what better way to make a customer happy than by making the customer happy that you made the mistake? i assume this kind of mix up is rare so this kind of resolution would be very infrequent.

 

[rdubmu]

Did you send it it in for repair at the store. Or did you ship it to them?

Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Tapatalk

 

[ni28]

when situations like this come up, i think there's only one way to handle them. microsoft should have offered to overnight you a brand new surface pro and throw in every surface accessory they currently sell all for free. what better way to make a customer happy than by making the customer happy that you made the mistake? i assume this kind of mix up is rare so this kind of resolution would be very infrequent.

I can understand how that would make any customer restore their faith in your company, but to be perfectly honest. I am starting to get to the point where all I want is to just get my surface back, and maybe a genuine apology as opposed to the rushed, we are sorry we are looking into it generic responses I am getting (that sound like they are automated or copy pasted for a template). I am coming into my final weeks of university semester and having my surface back would make my studies all that much easier.

Did you send it it in for repair at the store. Or did you ship it to them?

Sent from my RM-820_nam_att_100 using Tapatalk

Shipped it to them. Australia does not possess storefronts like America does

 

[gsquared]

Ya know OP. People do make legitimate mistakes. Were all Human. Now if they had told you that you did receive the correct device and the matter was closed you would have a legitimate beef. Right now however, your kind of crying like a child would.

 

[ni28]

Ya know OP. People do make legitimate mistakes. Were all Human. Now if they had told you that you did receive the correct device and the matter was closed you would have a legitimate beef. Right now however, your kind of crying like a child would.

I am inclined to agree with you. If I hadn't been without my device for over a month. My question then to you is, how long do you give a company to fix up a mistake? At its earliest this issue will be resolved in 1-2 weeks for me, that will be over 6 weeks. The fact of the matter is, you pay premium for a premium product. When you do not get what you paid for, any normal person would be inclined to complain. Does that give me the right to complain? No probably not, but I think its fair if I'm allowed to warn users that this is the kind of support they should expect. The counter to this argument is that if you get the wrong burger at a fast food joint, do you then write a forum post in an attempt to destroy that company's reputation? No probably not. But then again this is a thousand dollar burger we're talking about...

If consumers don't have a bit of a cry every now and again, how would you know if the company is worth dealing with. I surely would like to have known that Microsoft's support would have been lacking if I ever had an issue prior to purchasing a tablet. Just imagine if I were a business user? How much would taking a device from you for over a month be worth to you? (I do realise that is a different ball game and support for businesses would get a greater deal of attention, but just food for thought).

 

[tissotti]

Ya know OP. People do make legitimate mistakes. Were all Human. Now if they had told you that you did receive the correct device and the matter was closed you would have a legitimate beef. Right now however, your kind of crying like a child would.

You can't be serious? I would be absolutely mad after that kind of fock up and he has ever right to be after paying the amount he has for the device.
We naturally have large population of MS fanboys here, and that's fine. Lets still keep the bar high enough for somebody to make a thread in a topics forum about legitimate complaint and not get accused for being a crybaby.

 

[lukeap69]

Ya know OP. People do make legitimate mistakes. Were all Human. Now if they had told you that you did receive the correct device and the matter was closed you would have a legitimate beef. Right now however, your kind of crying like a child would.

Seriously?

Sent from my LG-D802 using Tapatalk

 

[Paul May]

I am inclined to agree with you. If I hadn't been without my device for over a month. My question then to you is, how long do you give a company to fix up a mistake? At its earliest this issue will be resolved in 1-2 weeks for me, that will be over 6 weeks. The fact of the matter is, you pay premium for a premium product. When you do not get what you paid for, any normal person would be inclined to complain. Does that give me the right to complain? No probably not, but I think its fair if I'm allowed to warn users that this is the kind of support they should expect. The counter to this argument is that if you get the wrong burger at a fast food joint, do you then write a forum post in an attempt to destroy that company's reputation? No probably not. But then again this is a thousand dollar burger we're talking about...

If consumers don't have a bit of a cry every now and again, how would you know if the company is worth dealing with. I surely would like to have known that Microsoft's support would have been lacking if I ever had an issue prior to purchasing a tablet. Just imagine if I were a business user? How much would taking a device from you for over a month be worth to you? (I do realise that is a different ball game and support for businesses would get a greater deal of attention, but just food for thought).

Your response to this ***** was very well thought out. I also use my Surface pro for school in which we only use e-text books, I also use one note for all my notes, so a month of not being able to use my surface would kill me. You have handled this situation a lot better than I would have. Don't listen to the trolls and haters, I believe you have every right to be angry about this. Please keep us updated on the resolution.

 

[christenmartin]

A month? Ya your crying like a baby. Not. This kind of thing makes me wonder how interested MS is in selling product. I have had pretty good luck with MS support but if they kept my surface for a month I would be a little bit agitated. ***** hard and they should square you away. The ******* rhymes with ditch.

 

[AR2186]

While this situation is definitely a tough one, why don't you try using twitter/other social media to expedite it? There is nothing companies hate more than bad publicity, and while on generally against trying to take advantage of companies, it sounds warranted in this situation. You may even get a Surface Pro 2 out of it

 

[ni28]

While this situation is definitely a tough one, why don't you try using twitter/other social media to expedite it? There is nothing companies hate more than bad publicity, and while on generally against trying to take advantage of companies, it sounds warranted in this situation. You may even get a Surface Pro 2 out of it

The issue with that is, a majority of the Facebook pages for Microsoft and Surface do not allow comments (or I need to learn how to use social media better!). To even mention this on their page, I had to find the Australian Surface Pro page, and comment on a photo promoting the Surface Pro 2. I did get a generic "we'll look into it reply" though, which I suspect did not accelerate my issue in any way, shape or form due to the 3-5 day wait you have to wait for escalation of support queries. It would have been nice to actually came out of this warranty issue with a positive, such as an upgrade to the device, but to be perfectly honest, I just wanted the device I paid for back Would have cried if I received another RT haha...

Here is an update of the situation for those who are curious as to how my Surface warranty issue went *note this is an Australian experience, if you are in the US, I strongly advise you to go to a store front. Though presumably your support may be better than ours (ours actually redirects to America anyway)

tl/dr: Got a replacement surface, just over 1 week to resolve the issue (excluding the 3/5 day wait to escalation). Happy to get the device, unhappy they reasoned that I benefited out of this mix-up by getting a replacement, despite being notified three weeks earlier that I was to receive a replacement during servicing.

Received an email last week stating "our records indicate that your surface has been successfully shipped." That was literally all it said. Understandably I was curious as to whether or not this person had read any sort of case file about the issues I was having. So I got into contact with them. Apparently this person was from the escalated support department, and they would be able to resolve this issue (I am still baffled that they had not heard of the mix-up). The person ended up giving me a replacement Surface Pro (which I am typing to you to on now), and stated that he would do so no questions asked, even if my service issue did not warrant a replacement. I bit my tongue on this statement as my service request originally stated I was to get a replacement due to manufacturing fault, as the person made out the scenario as if I was gaining something out of this inconvenience.

Long story short, the person requested the RT to be returned, and sent a replacement Pro by overnight mail (3 days). Funnily enough, they gave me the wrong tracking website again. By the time I was provided with the correct details, I had received the device. Am I happy with the resolution? Partially, I mean I am happy to get my warranty replaced device back although I still felt as if the staff were leading me on a wild goose chase and that they truly believed that I had benefited from this mix up. Resolution took just over one week due to the 3-5 day support escalation, which imo is acceptable, though you might presume I would skip the queue a tad if I had to wait over a month, but potentially everyone else has had similar issues of similar urgency if they needed their support request escalated. Originally issue (yellow mark on screen from glue/adhesive materials heating up) does not seem an issue on the new device.

(one other thing I noted, the package was just left at my door, I didn't know that was the protocol for thousand dollar devices, especially seeing as we have been getting some 35 to 40 degree (celsius not Fahrenheit!) days lately here in Australia, maybe I am just being picky again but that raised an eye brow for me)

 

[AR2186]

The issue with that is, a majority of the Facebook pages for Microsoft and Surface do not allow comments (or I need to learn how to use social media better!). To even mention this on their page, I had to find the Australian Surface Pro page, and comment on a photo promoting the Surface Pro 2. I did get a generic "we'll look into it reply" though, which I suspect did not accelerate my issue in any way, shape or form due to the 3-5 day wait you have to wait for escalation of support queries. It would have been nice to actually came out of this warranty issue with a positive, such as an upgrade to the device, but to be perfectly honest, I just wanted the device I paid for back Would have cried if I received another RT haha...

Here is an update of the situation for those who are curious as to how my Surface warranty issue went *note this is an Australian experience, if you are in the US, I strongly advise you to go to a store front. Though presumably your support may be better than ours (ours actually redirects to America anyway)

tl/dr: Got a replacement surface, just over 1 week to resolve the issue (excluding the 3/5 day wait to escalation). Happy to get the device, unhappy they reasoned that I benefited out of this mix-up by getting a replacement, despite being notified three weeks earlier that I was to receive a replacement during servicing.

Received an email last week stating "our records indicate that your surface has been successfully shipped." That was literally all it said. Understandably I was curious as to whether or not this person had read any sort of case file about the issues I was having. So I got into contact with them. Apparently this person was from the escalated support department, and they would be able to resolve this issue (I am still baffled that they had not heard of the mix-up). The person ended up giving me a replacement Surface Pro (which I am typing to you to on now), and stated that he would do so no questions asked, even if my service issue did not warrant a replacement. I bit my tongue on this statement as my service request originally stated I was to get a replacement due to manufacturing fault, as the person made out the scenario as if I was gaining something out of this inconvenience.

Long story short, the person requested the RT to be returned, and sent a replacement Pro by overnight mail (3 days). Funnily enough, they gave me the wrong tracking website again. By the time I was provided with the correct details, I had received the device. Am I happy with the resolution? Partially, I mean I am happy to get my warranty replaced device back although I still felt as if the staff were leading me on a wild goose chase and that they truly believed that I had benefited from this mix up. Resolution took just over one week due to the 3-5 day support escalation, which imo is acceptable, though you might presume I would skip the queue a tad if I had to wait over a month, but potentially everyone else has had similar issues of similar urgency if they needed their support request escalated. Originally issue (yellow mark on screen from glue/adhesive materials heating up) does not seem an issue on the new device.

(one other thing I noted, the package was just left at my door, I didn't know that was the protocol for thousand dollar devices, especially seeing as we have been getting some 35 to 40 degree (celsius not Fahrenheit!) days lately here in Australia, maybe I am just being picky again but that raised an eye brow for me)

Twitter seems to be the best way, they tend to respond quickly

 

[inteller]

for the 1000s of smooth return transactions we never hear about, we read the one like posted above.

 

[ni28]

Agreed, I did however post a positive return transaction in my original post, so as not to seem like flamey mc flames poster . Generally speaking though, I would rather know what could go wrong if I went with a particular brand, rather than what I should technically get for my money. I mean, after all, if you went to a restaurant for a quick meal with important managers of yours, you would probably want to know about that one case where the waiters took three hours to bring out the food, only for it to be the wrong dish and to take an extra half hour to come up with the goods. Sure it doesn't happen to everyone and I understand Microsoft doesn't state anywhere that their hardware support is the best in the business, so they are not technically lying to anyone, but people shouldn't be afraid of posting their negative experiences.

It'd be all sunshine and lollipops if every company delivered on what they promised, and as others have said, accidents happen. Whether or not Microsoft actually cares if I am happy or satisfied with the whole mistaken tablet identity issue is still, at least for me, yet to be seen.

Edit: Upon further inspection, this surface has a couple of dents around the body of device, so maybe this is not a brand-new device. Alternatively their quality control leaves much to be desired. I am tired of dealing with support however and won't pursue that.